Prayers and tears for Eid in quake-hit Mandalay

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Hundreds of grieving Muslims gathered for Eid prayers in the street in Mandalay on Monday, the death and destruction of Myanmar's huge earthquake casting a pall of anguish over the occasion.

The watching women were the first to weep. A tear, a sniffle, a cry. The emotion spread among hundreds of men lined up in the street outside two mosques where 20 of their fellow believers died.

Sobs and sighs haunted the air in the gentle morning light. Finally the imam's voice broke as he prayed for the souls of the dead.

"May Allah grant us all peace," he intoned. "May all the brothers be free from danger."

The Muslims of Mandalay gathered for a sombre first prayer of the Eid al-Fitr festival, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, three days after a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck during Friday prayers.

The minaret of the Sajja South mosque in the Muslim neighbourhood of Mawyagiwah crashed to the ground in the quake, killing 14 children and two adults, locals said.

Four more people were killed at the neighbouring Sajja North mosque when its tower came down.

Many of the dead were from Win Thiri Aung's family, close and extended.

"In normal times, it is full of joy when it is Eid," the 26-year-old told AFP.

"Our hearts are light. This year, we are not like that. All of our minds are with the dead children. I see their faces in my eyes.

"We believe the souls of children and everyone we know who died have reached Paradise. We believe they were blessed deaths," she said, breaking down.

"It is a test from Allah. It is a reminder from him that we need to turn towards him. So we need to pray more."